Hotels in Hong Kong

Ten days was still not enough to adequately sample all the delights of this incredible east-meets-west city. We elected to stay in three totally different hotels (all in Kowloon- the Novotel in Yau Ma Tei, Rosedale in Mong Kok and the Langham in Tsim Sha Tsui) for an all round experience. We probably wouldn't recommend the Rosedale but that's only because it is very much geared to Chinese business travellers, is a little hard to get to and away from Nathan Road -however, it has the most amazing roof top bar and great views from the rooms!). The HOHO bus tours are a must to get your bearings and see the other side of HK Island including Stanley and Recluse Bay. It also includes a boat ride through the floating houseboats of Aberdeen. Whilst we loved morning tea at The Peninsula and HK high tea on the verandah of Hullett House, we felt incredibly safe in HK and highly recommend that you allow yourself to wander and explore the streets with their markets, street food and eateries, mah jong parlours, antiques, footpath opera, crazy items for sale on the footpath (tapware and toilet cisterns were particularly popular in Mong Kok), birds, fish, flowers, bonsais....not much English spoken but everyone is pleasant and patient so long as you remain respectful and polite. At night the flavour shifts again as the place comes alive all over again under the blinking neon lights! A Lantau Island tour was wonderful, as were trips to the History, interactive Science, and the Flagstaff tea museums (entrance to HK Park is right opposite the Shangri Lah Hotel). Flamingos in Kowloon Park were also an unexpected find. Next time we will get out to the New Territories and pop over to Macau for a look. Get yourself an Octopus card to use the excellent train system, explore, enjoy and open your mind to new experiences and culture and you won't be disappointed in Hong Kong. It really is much, much more than duty free shopping.

We were shocked and disappointed to discover how expensive Hong Kong now is. The cost of high end goods such as Coach and Burberry is actually higher in Hong Kong than Australia. But the range is bigger ad better. We ate at the Biergarten German Restaurant in Hanoi Road and were extremely ill for several days until the antibiotic took effect. This impacted badly on our holiday as we were unable to complete our itinerary. Hint for travellers: check the cleanliness of a restaurant's bathroom before placing an order. I discovered the bad news after I had already eaten. The practice of hotel reception taking a deposit that is larger than the actual total room cost plus the full cost of the room at the same time totally exhausts your credit card. An infuriating and costly exercise. For great dim sum eat at the chinese restaurant at the Eaton Hotel. Cabs are very inexpensive. The harbour view at night is breath-taking.

Hotel 36 is the best budget hotel that you can get. It is near to everything, they have a very staffs and rooms are perfect for 2-3 persons travelling. If you'd like to buy something original at low cost or discounted price I suggest that you go to Citygate Outlet. You can also visit Victoria Peak to get a better view of Hong Kong.

The hotel has a beautiful rooftop swimming pool overlooking the city during the night and day. The staff is very nice and the rooms are great for solo/ couple travelers! My bed had 2 twin beds made into a queen and woke up sleeping on the dent. The view from my room was spectacular and the food is expensive but you can always go to the connecting mall with great selections. I tried the Shabu Shabu at the mall, paid $50 for the Wagyu all you can eat, not worth it. I regret not doing the buffet at the hotel which looked amazing for $75. I walked to the crowded Ladies Market for bargains but beware it was HOT, HUMID and STICKY. The night life on the street is something to experience and felt like New Years Eve in New York with so many people walking around! I loved the connecting bridge to The Langham Place mall which was beautiful with many shops. Tokyo Milk Cheese crackers are AMAZING if you like milk and cheese. I don't like ice cream but" i Cremeria" Soft Cream Parfait with Japanese Premium Melon was DELICIOUS! I wish they had this in the states...

The people are very friendly easily we can ask for directions, a bit hard to communicate in English but can be managed. Restaurant staffs also are excellent they maintain clean environment. I notice most of the workers are seniors but they doing a good job. I also liked the part when we reached Kawloon from Disneyland we got lost looking for the hotel but a group of residents noticed us and approached for help. They tried to communicate with us as much as they with us in English. Although it was a long line checking in the hotel it is worth the wait because they gave us the best room. The L' Hotel Nina is our place of stay during our visit, we stayed there before when we first visited Hong Kong in 2010 we never hesitated to visit the second time. In morning the concierge guided us on how to go around Hong Kong using the MTR, the metro is most convenient and affordable means of transportation in Hong Kong. Using the Octopus card they are also giving 50% discount for children, you can also use the Octopus card to buy foods and stuffs. We had our 2 day ticket to Disneyland, we use the first day immediately when we arrived from the airport. We took one day rest, then we used the 2nd day pass to Disney. during our rest day we took the advantage to go around Hong Kong using the MTR. We visited Central, The Peak Tram, and more. Even though it is a bit raining it just keeps the place even cooler.

Hong Kong is a well planned city. Although we came from India we were operating as if we lived in HK for long time. That only shows how well the city is planned and the transport facility setup. MTR is the best. Any decent size city should see the MTR and learn from it. Disney Land, Ngong Ping and Ocean Park are amazing. Ocean Park is too big and may need more than a day to cover. The ferry from Central to Kowloon is very good and the night light show Symphony of lights at 8 PM is very good. If you are a vegetarian, it is very difficult in Hong Kong and Macau as the food options are extremely limited. Otherwise, it looks like an excellent place for food there are different types and levels of restaurants that are easily accessible. The hotels in Macau are very good. We stayed in HarbourView Hotel and it was excellent. Although it was 4 star it was like a 5 star hotel. The ambience of the rooms, corridors, gym, etc were beyond our imagination. I will recommend people to stay there. Even Grand Coloane Resort by the beach is an excellent place. We got free upgrade to beach facing room and it was amazing. I was told that casinos are busy in Macau more than Atlantic city and Las Vegas. But I did not find much crowd in casinos, may be because it was off season. Overall, Hong Kong & Macau are good places for short vacation. Apparently May is off season there, but it worked out good for us as all the sight seeing places were less crowded. If one can endure little humidity and temperatures in the range of 25 to 28 centigrade, I suggest May is a good time to visit these places